Community Guidelines

The World board is where you can put a feeling down in front of people who are carrying something too. You post under a board name, not your real name. Other people see that name; we keep the link to your account for safety, moderation and deletion. Anyone with the app can read what you post there, so think before you post.

This page explains section 7 of our Terms of Service in plain words. The Terms are the agreement; this page is how we apply it.

Do not post anything that:

• encourages or glorifies self-harm or suicide, or gives instructions or methods. Saying how you feel is welcome; a how-to is not;
• attacks people for who they are — hate speech, harassment, threats, or anything that targets someone by identity;
• shares another person’s identifying details, such as their real name, phone number, address, workplace or photos (doxxing);
• is spam or advertising, asks for money or contact details, or tries to move people off to another service;
• claims to be a licensed clinician or offers clinical services here;
• is sexual content involving minors, is otherwise illegal, or breaks Indian law;
• pretends to be someone else, or is posted from a second account to get around a ban.

The World board is for adults. If you think someone under 18 is posting, report the post or tell us at hello@hushedechoes.com.

• Report. Every post and reply has a report option. Reports are reviewed by our moderation team. A post that several different people report is hidden automatically while we review it.
• Block. Block someone and you stop seeing their posts and replies.
• Automated checks. A filter looks for certain words in English, Hindi and Hinglish, and a safety check looks for words about self-harm so the app can show helplines (section 4.1 of the Privacy Policy). Neither one labels you to other people.
• Removal. Moderators can remove content that breaks these rules and, for serious or repeated breaches, suspend or close an account, with or without notice depending on severity. We do not promise to monitor everything, and we do not moderate in real time.
• Appeals. If we removed your post or restricted your account and you think we got it wrong, email hello@hushedechoes.com with the subject line Appeal and the board name you post under. We acknowledge within 48 hours and respond within 30 days. In India you can also raise a grievance with the grievance desk in section 14 of the Privacy Policy.

HushedEchoes is not a crisis service, and we do not watch the board in real time. If a post suggests someone may hurt themselves, the app shows them a card with free helplines for their country, and the post may carry a one-line footer with a helpline for yours. If you are worried about someone, reply with kindness and point them to a line. If you are in danger yourself, do not post and wait — call a line now. Free, confidential helplines for India and other countries are on our disclaimer and crisis resources page.

We may update these guidelines as the board grows. The current version always lives at hushedechoes.com/guidelines, and we announce material changes in the app.